


The Avatar Princess: Book One

by SkyBirdTitania



Series: The Avatar Princess [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Naruto
Genre: Avatar Cycle, Avatar State, Avatar: The Last Airbender References, Bending (Avatar), Crossover, Crossover Pairings, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fire Lord Zuko, Gen, How Do I Tag, I Don't Even Know, I Tried, Inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender, Love Triangles, Minor Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Naruto is Just Naruto, One-Sided Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke, Pre-Avatar: Legend of Korra, Protective Zuko (Avatar), Slow To Update, Strength, Strong Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke Being an Asshole, Unrequited Love, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-21
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-11-27 00:11:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18187331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyBirdTitania/pseuds/SkyBirdTitania
Summary: After defeating Kaguya, Sasuke announces that he will start a revolution once he kills Naruto. In a desperate act of love, Sakura confesses that she is still in love with him no matter the evil deeds he has committed. To keep Sakura from interfering, he casts a Genjutsu on her which is too powerful to break. As she enters a new world, she finds herself power bound to the Avatar as he emerges from the iceberg after one hundred years; granting her the ability to bend all of the elements.





	1. The Boy in the Iceberg

**Author's Note:**

> Naruto and Avatar: the Last Airbender do not belong to me but belong to Masashi Kishimoto, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino.
> 
> Please also note that this is uncompleted work that is still in progress, so will not have an end chapter number as of yet.
> 
> Happy reading!

"Won't you release the tailed beasts?" Naruto asked, turning to Sasuke. "They've finally gotten their freedom. I've gotten to know them well, so I just know...they won't be doing any evil anymore."

Sasuke shook his head. "...Naruto. It seems as though you still don't understand."

"Understand what?" Naruto frowned.

"As of now, you are the Jinchuuriki for every single one of the tailed beasts...so of course the tailed beasts' chakra that resides inside of you is included," Sasuke begun to explain. "...when I say that I plan to destroy every single last one of them."

Sakura and Kakashi stood in shock at their exchange.

"In other words...you are going to die, Naruto." The words rolled off of his tongue. "There is no way around it."

Naruto gritted his teeth, he opened his mouth to say something.

"According to what the Sage said..." Sasuke said, cutting him off. "I don't even need the tailed beasts' power that's inside of you to dispel the infinite Tsukuyomi as long as I have the tailed beasts that I've captured to use, which means that I'll be keeping them alive until then at least."

"I won't let you get away with this...you realise that, don't you?!" Naruto yelled.

"I suppose I'll have to start with you after all, Naruto...but not here." He turned on his heel and begun walking away. "Let's go elsewhere, you should know where."

"Wait! Sasuke!" Kakashi proceeds to begin to get up, but his knees wobble and cave outwards; forcing him down on all fours. "Nghk..."

"Sensei!" Sakura rushes to his side, placing a hand on his back to support him. Her eyes focused on Sasuke once again, becoming glassy. Naruto and Kakashi looked at her, knowing that she wouldn't be able to stay quiet any longer because this could be the last time that she ever sees him again. Her brows furrow, tears streaming down her cheeks and her teeth gritted as she watched him walk further away from them. "I..."

"The truth is...I've always known in my heart, there was nothing I could have done for you." She called to him, loud enough for him to hear as he continued on his way. "But I love you...!"

She choked. "No matter what's happened, I still care about you more than I can bear...If I could have taken all of your pain onto myself to comfort you, I would have. And here we are again, and still, all I can do is sit here and cry. I'm so...pathetic." She sobbed, closing her eyes and lowering her head. Refusing to look at him as it caused her more heartache. "But...Sasuke! If I still have a place somewhere in your heart, no matter how small it may be...then please...I'm begging you, don't slip any further away...!"

Kakashi observed the pain on her face, his eyes expressing the sadness he felt for her. He hadn't been there the first time Sakura poured her heart out to Sasuke, but he was now, and his heart broke for her.

"If we just all stayed together...forever...then I'm sure that someday...Things will go back to the way they used to be..." She finished, opening her eyes and looking at him again. She gasped as he begun to turn around, hope filling her once again like it had when they had been reunited on the battlefield.

"You really are..." He looks at her straight in the eyes, his Sharingan glistening at her. A pained smile on his lips. "annoying..."

Her mistake was looking into those eyes that stared back, a purple light pulsed from his eye and formed a clone of him that struck through her chest, she stared at his clone in disbelief before her eyes closed. Once the clone had quickly been sucked back into Sasuke, Sakura had fallen onto the ground.

Naruto stepped forward, balling his fists. "You bastard! That's going too far! You didn't need to use Genjutsu on Sakura!"

"If I left her like that, she would just come after us. She would have gotten in the way." Sasuke explained.

"Sakura..." Kakashi places a hand on her back. "She just wanted to help you, all this time!"

Sasuke glared at Kakashi. "Was she having fun in her little make-believe fantasy of true love? As for me, I have absolutely no reason to love her and likewise, I can see no reason why she would love me."

"The only time you need a reason is to hate someone!" Kakashi spat. "Besides, all Sakura wanted just now was to be yours! She only wanted to save you! This girl here..." He looked down at Sakura, whose face remained in pain with sadness and her still fresh tears rolling to the side of her cheeks and nose. "...Who you've been more than ready to kill...even now, she's crying tears filled with thoughts of you...because she loves you so much it's breaking her heart!"

Sasuke pauses, in thought for a second. His hair masking the emotion in his eyes as he thought of the family he has lost. "That's probably just...chains from a failed past she's feeling..."

"Sasuke...!" Kakashi begins to get up to catch up to Sasuke before he jumped away but Naruto flashed in front of him. He watched as Naruto's shaggy hair and black headband blew in the air.

"I...promised." He started, looking down at Sakura. "I promised Sakura a long time ago that no matter what, I would bring Sasuke home. It wasn't one that I intended not to keep!"

"Naruto-" Kakashi began, hoping to dissuade Naruto against his decision.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cut in, looking in front of him now. "You should know my ninja way by now, don't you? I'm going now!"

I'll never go back on my word. This is my ninja way!

Hagaromo and Kakashi watched as Naruto raced towards the Valley of the End to meet with Sasuke. A few moments had passed since Naruto's departure, and Kakashi had begun to tend to Sakura to ensure she was comfortable before Hagaromo opened his mouth to speak.

"Love is a complicated thing..." He started. "I too once had two sons. I loved them both, and they both loved and respected me as well. But in the end, I chose to leave everything to my youngest son alone. And because of that, my eldest grew to despise both me and his younger brother. Just like that, the love we had transformed into hate. The Sasuke of today has been moulded and shaped by the loss of the love he once had in his past. Madara was the same way."

Kakashi glanced at the lifeless body of Madara before he looked at Hagaromo. "...Sasuke and Madara have shared similar fates. Is that what you're trying to say?"

"Not exactly..." Hagaromo replied, looking between Sakura and Madara. "I want to give him a better future than what I had for myself. By learning from my past mistakes. That's why this time I entrusted the same amount of power to both of them. The past does not exist to remind us that the future cannot be changed. It exists to show us what the future can be."

"And what made you see that possibility in Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"That boy is the man who was able to befriend Kurama and save him from the embodiment of hatred that he had become. So I decided to leave it all up to him. This time, I'm praying, it will be hatred that transforms into love...rather...I pray they're able to reclaim the love they'd lost. Not just Naruto...but Sasuke as well. Unlike Kaguya, they've known something of love..."

* * *

The snowy footprints of two people lay embedded down the path of the canal, where they disappeared as the ice and snow have begun to thin out. Icebergs towered high, high enough to block the beating sun from the eyes of the two teenagers who floated along in a canoe amidst the ice-laden waters and the few unexpectant fish below them.

The boy watched the water excitedly, with a spear in his hand. "It's not getting away from me this time," The boy stated with determination. "watch and learn, Katara; this is how you catch a fish!"

He stuck out his tongue as he pulled his spear back and lunged it forward into the water.

Katara rolled her eyes at him and glanced at the water in front of her. She spotted a fish swimming side to side near her end of the canoe, in curiousness; she took off one of her gloves. Steadying her breathing, she waved her hand once. Somehow, the fish was raised out of the water in a glistening sphere of water. She continued to move her hands together, noticeably worrying to keep the ball of water airborne.

"Sokka, look!" She yelped, excitedly.

"Sssh! Katara, you'll scare it away!" Sokka whispered. "Mmmm, I can already smell it cookin'!" He said, staring hungrily at the fish.

"But Sokka! I caught one!" She called again. She moved the water ball away from the water, hovering it over the canoe and aiming it towards the wooden bucket they kept on the canoe, but the tip of Sokka's spear popped the bubble and water gushed out; drowning him in the process. The fish flopped back into the water for freedom.

"Hey!" Katara yelled, frustrated now.

"Augh!" Sokka yelped in disgust, trying to shake himself dry as he glared at Katara. "Why is it, whenever you play with magic water, I get soaked?" He asked, exasperated.

"It's not magic water, it's water bending." Katara pointed out, annoyed. "And it's-"

"-Yeah, yeah. An ancient art technique to our culture. Blah, blah, blah." Sokka drawled, shrugging his arms. "Look, I'm just sayin' that if I had weird powers, I'd keep my weirdness to myself."

"You're calling me weird?" Katara cried incredulously. Realising that he wasn't paying attention to her, and flexing his 'muscles' while watching his reflection in the water, she grinned. "I'm not the one who makes muscles every time I see my reflection in the water."

Sokka pouted at her and rolled down his sleeves, not noticing the ice float right in front of him that they collided with. Their small canoe moved out of the way of the float naturally but right into a swift current. Sokka picked up the paddles on the sides of the canoe and tried to push themselves away from the ice floats that were crashing into them.

"Watch out! Go left! Go left!" Katara yelled, their canoe wedging it's way between two icebergs closing in on them. The two were flung out of the canoe upon impact, whereas the canoe had splintered into a million pieces. Once gathering themselves once more on an ice float sturdy enough to support them both, she turned to Sokka in anger. "You call that left?"

"You don't like my steering? Well, maybe you should have water bent us out of the ice." Sokka said sarcastically, moving his hands in a flowing motion like Katara had performed before.

"Oh, so it's my fault?" She stood up so she towered over him, attempting to intimidate him.

Sokka curled his legs up towards his chest and let his arms hold them in place. "I knew I should have left you at home. Trust a girl to screw things up."

Katara's eye twitched as she glared at him. "You are the most sexist, immature, nut-brained, ugh! I'm embarrassed to be related to you!" As she yelled, she flung her arms backwards which created tidal waves behind her. Sokka looked on uninterestedly until chunks of ice began to fall behind Katara, unbeknownst to her, and his face twisted in fear. "Ever since mom died, I've done all the work around camp while you've been off playing 'soldier'!"

As she flung her arms back, it now created a jagged crack on the iceberg.

"Uhh, Katara?" Sokka said nervously, backing away from his sister and the iceberg behind her.

"I even wash all the clothes!" She continued to yell, pointing at him. "Have you ever smelled your dirty socks? Well, let me tell you. Not. Pleasant!" She flung her arms back yet again, splitting the iceberg in two more places.

"Katara! Settle down!" Sokka yelled, terrified.

"No! That's it! I'm done helping you! From now on, you're on your own!" She threw her arms back one last time, causing a tide to wash over them and the iceberg behind them completely split in half. They both gasped and held onto the float for dear life in case of falling into the ice cold water, the large wave of water that erupted in front of them pushing them backwards.

When the wave had finally calmed down and they were no longer being dragged backwards, Sokka turned to his sister.

"Okay. You've gone from weird to freakish, Katara."

"You mean, I did that?" She looked amazed.

"Yup, congratulations." Sokka clapped, his face completely sour. In front of them, a bright blue glow radiated from below them in the water. Bubbles formed and popped around the area, another iceberg jolted out from under them but this one was different from the rest.

Katara begun to approach it, transfixed. As she looked closer, she saw the figure of a young boy in the ice. Suddenly, the boy's eyes opened sharply. His eyes, a bright empty blue glow.

They both gasped, and Katara snatched Sokka's boomerang. "He's alive! We have to help him!" She began to jump across the ice floats that settled in front of them to get closer to the boy in the iceberg.

"Katara! Wait! Get back here!" Sokka yelled. "We don't know what that thing is!"

Katara began slamming the boomerang into the iceberg, panting with each swing she took. After a few tries, the iceberg bursts and a spray of water jerks them both back. Sokka caught her and shielded her from the spray of wet snow with his body. The crack in the iceberg parted all the way up from the bottom to top, splitting in half. An eruption of light rose from the tip into the air, filling the sky with a mass of ripples. It glowed a slight yellow as it reached the sky.

* * *

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" Sakura screamed holy murder as the light pierced through her body, coursing through her veins and making her feel like she was being ripped apart from the inside out. The top of her head burning a red glow as her roots grew longer, and her body numbing from the pain and her eyes glowing a bright blue, her body now unconsciously plummeted towards the snowy cliffs.

'Is this how you think of me, Sasuke?' She thought, teardrops escaping from her eyes and floating in the air behind her.

* * *

A Fire Nation cruiser chugged through the icy sea, letting out a stream of black smoke from it's roof which was connected to the engine room. A young man paced the ship, and when he looked up into the sky - he was startled but also quite amazed. His eyes widened and the ragged purple and red scar on the left side of his face which covered the skin around his eye, ear and eyelid forced his eye partially closed. All of his black long hair had been held neatly in a cloth band.

"Finally." He growled and bawled his fist. "Uncle, do you realise what this means?"

He looked over at the significantly older man with greying hair and a considerably rounded stomach. He was sitting at a small table, playing a game with the man opposite him with two others standing over them.

"I won't finish my game?" He answered, looking up.

"It means my search..." The young man looks distantly up at the sky. "It's about to come to an end." When he heard his uncle sigh behind him, he sharply turned on his heel to face him. "That light came from an incredibly powerful source! It has to be him!"

"Or it's just the celestial lights." His uncle replied, swooping his hand through the air. "We've been down this road before, Prince Zuko. I don't want you to get too excited over nothing." He placed a card piece on the table. "Please, sit. Why don't you enjoy a cup of calming Jasmine tea?"

Zuko balled his fist. "I don't need any calming tea! I need to capture the Avatar!" He yelled at his uncle angrily. Zuko looked upwards; on top of the helm where two men stood. "Helm's men! Head a course for the light!" He yelled, pointing towards the blue light, which wasn't that much of a distance away.

His uncle looked annoyed, setting down another card piece. A strong gust of wind blew through the deck, and the cards clattered to the floor.

* * *

Katara and Sokka sat huddled up beside each other, shielding each other from the air blast. The gust of wind finally calmed down, spiralling in rings above the glowing iceberg. As they stood up, they became aware of the huge hole on the top. In fact, it was follow as if the lid had popped off.

Sokka now noticed the boy with the strange glowing markings rise out of the dome, staring down at them.

Sokka thrust his spear towards the boy as a warning. "Stop!"

The light soon faded, and the boy fell and slid down the ice seemingly lifeless. Katara gasped and ran forward to catch him before he collided with the icy ground head first. Sokka walked over cautiously, beginning to poke the boy's bald head with the butt of his spear.

"Stop it!" Katara yelled, pushing the spear away with her arm. She turned the boy around to face her, looking him over.

The boy mumbled, his eyelids fluttering open and he gasped. Katara smiled, seeing as he was awake. "I need to...ask you something..." He rasped.

"What?" Katara asked.

"Please...come closer..." The boy spoke again.

"What is it?" Katara urged.

His eyes suddenly widened, and his face blazed with excitement. "Will you go penguin sledging with me?" He asked, full of energy.

Katara backed away from him hastily. "Uh, sure. I guess?"

The boy swiftly lifted himself up into the air, causing Sokka to let out a girlish scream and raise his arms in the air to protect his body.

"What's going on here?" The boy asked, rubbing his bald head and looking around him.

"You tell us!" Sokka yelled, exasperated. "how did you get in the ice!?" The boy looked at Sokka, confused. "And why aren't you frozen?"

Sokka poked his hips lightly with his spear, and the boy pushed it away absentmindedly.

"I'm not sure." The boy said, looking around for something.

A sudden, loud and thunderous snoring came from behind the boy. He gasped as he climbed back into the cavity of the iceberg, he slid down the ice and fell onto the forehead of a giant, furry beast.

"Appa! Are you alright?" He lifted up one of its large eyelids, seeing its eye move to look at him. "Wake up, buddy."

Sokka and Katara walked around the side of the iceberg, noticing a large opening for them to walk through instead of trying to crawl their way up the large slope like the boy did. Sokka gasped at the sight.

The boy was trying to pry open the mouth of a large furry beast, that had a much darker arrow painted into its fur and down its back. A saddle rested on its back, and a rope had been tied neatly around its horns.

The boy's efforts to wake Appa up were rewarded. The beast opened its mouth and lifted the boy up in the air with a swift lick. "Hahahaha! You're okay!" The boy exclaimed excitedly.

"What is that thing?" Sokka asked, cautiously raising his spear. But also mentally noted that the beast was about the size of two of him put together.

"This is Appa, my flying bison." The boy explained, patting Appa's legs.

"Riiight, and this is Katara; my flying sister," Sokka replied sarcastically, pointing to Katara with his thumb.

Katara and the boy stared at him, deadpanned. Appa growled before sneezing, spraying Sokka with a mountain of green snot. Sokka began to shriek, flapping his arms in the air and trying to rub the snot into the ice.

Katara, on the other hand, backed away from Sokka in disgust with her hand over her mouth.

"Don't worry, It'll wash out." The boy said, watching as Sokka pulled a lump of snot off of him with his hand and watching it as it swayed back and forth like a pendulum.

"Ugh."

"So, do you guys live around here?" The boy asked.

"Don't answer that Katara!" Sokka warned, pointing his spear at him. "Did you see that crazy bolt of light? He's a spy trying to signal the Fire Navy!"

"Yeah I'm sure he's a spy for the Fire Navy," Katara replied sarcastically, pulling down Sokka's spear and walking towards the boy. "You can tell from that  _evil_ look in his eye."

The boy stared at them both before his face twisted into a kooky grin.

"The paranoid one is my brother, Sokka. You never told us your name." Katara stated.

"I'm ah-aaah-ahhh-CHOOOO!" The boy sneezed, shooting high up into the air with a gust of wind. As the wind vanished, he fell down and slid down the iceberg, straightening up in front of them again. "I'm Aang!" He said, wiping his finger across his nose and smiling.


	2. The Girl from the Sky

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avatar is found and Sakura enters a new world!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rights to both of these shows do not belong to me, but to Masashi Kishimoto, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino.

* * *

 

"You just sneezed!" Sokka exclaimed, with a shocked face. "And flew ten feet into the air!"

"Really?" Aang said, scratching his head and looking up into the sky. "It felt higher than that."

Katara gasped and her eyes gleamed. "You're an Air Bender!"

"Sure am!" Aang replied, excitedly.

"Giant light beams, flying bison, air bending; I think I've got midnight sun madness," Sokka said, cradling his head in his hand as he turned around. "I'm going home to where stuff makes sense."

He continued to walk forward to the bank and pulled a face when he looked around, completely forgetting in the madness of the past ten minutes that their canoe was destroyed.

"Well, if you guys are stuck, Appa and I can give you a lift." Aang offered with a smile, somersaulting up onto Appa's forehead in a puff of air and promptly took the reins.

"We'd love a ride, thanks!" Katara yelled with glee, running up to Appa and beginning to climb up its legs.

"Oh no," Sokka said with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest. "I am  _not_ getting on that fluffy snot-monster."

"Oh, are you hoping some  _other_ kind of monster will come along and give you a ride home?" Katara shot back, smirking. "You know, before you  _freeze_ to death?

Sokka glared at her, begun mumbling quietly to himself as he grudgingly got on Appa's back; sitting on the seats at the back of the saddle.

"Okay, first-time flyers! Hold on tight!" Aang cracked the reins. "Appa, yip-yip!"

Appa thrashed his tail on the ice and jumped into the air as if to take off, but fell back into the water. "Come on, Appa, yip-yip!" Aang chanted once again, receiving a moan from the large beast.

"Wow. That was truly amazing." Sokka drawled, clapping his hands unenthusiastically.

"Appa's just tired. A little rest and he'll be soaring through the sky!" Aang exclaimed, moving his arm in the air in a soaring motion. "You'll see!"

Katara crawled to the front of the saddle to look over the horizon but stopped in her tracks when she caught Aang staring at her.

"Why are you smiling at me like that?" She asked, confused.

"O-Oh, I was smiling?" Aang stuttered, scratching the top of his bald head once again and Sokka could only grunt at their exchange.

* * *

The sky had turned a dark blue, with tints of orange filtered through the clouds, the sun setting before them. Zuko stood on the bow, watching it all take shape and disappear. His uncle stood five paces behind him now, after just finishing his game.

"I'm going to bed now." He yawned with a stretch. "Yup. A man needs his rest."

After a few seconds and still no reply from his young nephew, he grew annoyed.

"Prince Zuko, you need your sleep. Even if you're right, and the Avatar is really alive; you won't find him." He said, shaking his head. "Your father, grandfather and even your great-grandfather all tried but failed."

"That's because their honour didn't hinge on the Avatar's capture, mine does." Zuko looked sharply at his uncle. "This coward's hundred years of hiding are  _over_."

* * *

The wind picked up over the cliffs, dragging with it a flurry of snow, nature itself attempting to bury her over until nothing was left of her.

Sakura lay rooted in the place where she fell, the snow packed earth breaking her fall significantly earlier on in the day. The flakes that had gathered over her form numbed her bare skin entirely that she could barely feel her toes, never mind trying to gather herself enough to start walking.

She pushed her shaky arms off of the ground, trying to steady her legs enough to stand. Her whole body sluggishly trudged forward, wobbly like jelly on a plate. She heaved with each breath she took, her throat burning as if she had a branding iron forced into her mouth, a whistle filling the air as she continued to breathe in and out.

Her legs begun to shake violently, forcing her knees to buckle forward until she slumped fully onto the ground; a flurry of snow whipping upwards as she landed.

She rolled onto her back slowly, failing to notice how threateningly close she was from the edge of the cliff. She pulled her arms onto her chest, curling her pinkie and ring fingers until they lay flat on the back of her hands, laying her middle and index fingers flat against each other; the hand signal commonly known in the shinobi world as 'Tiger'.

"Release!" She mumbled, her voice cracking as the word rolled off her tongue. Tears began welling in the ducts of her eyelids, rolling down her face but freezing into crystals as they reached her cheeks, as she saw no change around her. "Release! Release! Release! Release! Please, just r-release!"

She choked, words no longer being existent to her as she puffed out clouds of air. Sakura slumped once again and closed her eyes, giving up.

Scenes played out in her head of Sasuke and Naruto facing off at the valley of the end behind her eyes. She worried about Naruto's philosophy about them both dying together, she knew that to that end that yes; she would wake up soon. But would it be worth it upon finding them both dead?

Either way, she would die inside from losing the two people that mean the world to her. Instead of her enlightening dream of her standing at the gates of the Leaf Village, watching as Naruto trundled home with a fairly beaten up Sasuke at his side as he gave her one of his ear to ear grins and exclaiming to her that he finally fulfilled the promise he made to her, seemed nothing but a dream now.

This is what Sasuke wanted though, to take everyone down so no one got in his way to come between his fight to the death with Naruto. He wanted this, he wanted this to be their last battle and it was going to be to the death.

He also knew that it tortured her to not do anything about it either, and the Tsukiyomi he put her under was just another of his games. It broke her heart. He broke her heart.

Before she passed out from the cold and pain she was in, her thoughts were filled with him.

* * *

Katara, Sokka and Aang continued floating along the stream upon Appa's back, passing between the massive glaciers around them. Sokka had relaxed against the saddle, already fast asleep and snoring. Aang lay across the back of Appa's large head, curiously looking between the two water tribe members.

A female's voice filled his ears, and he looked to Katara.

"Hey, did you say something?" He asked.

"No." She answered. They remained in silence once more, before Katara shifted her body over to the front of the saddle to lean her arms over the edge. "Hey."

"Hey," Aang replied tiredly. "Whatcha thinking about?"

"I guess I was just wondering, you being an airbender and all, if you knew what happened to the Avatar." Katara answered.

Aang looked surprised and then disappointed. "N-No, I don't know him." He said, sitting up and smiled at her once again. "I mean, I knew people who knew him, but I don't. Sorry."

"No! That's okay, I was just curious." She turned to lie down in the saddle. "Good night Aang, I'll see you in the morning."

"Sleep tight, Katara." He called back.

* * *

_Aang had fallen asleep on Appa's back, soaring through the sky to the Southern Water tribe. Lightning flashed, startling him awake. He looked around, frightened, sitting up and finding the reins wrapped around his hands. Another bolt of lightning struck, rain pounded down upon them and the waves below them high and choppy._

_"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" He yelled as they both plummeted towards the monstrous sea. He pulled Appa's reins back, forcing Appa to look up and try to get them flying upwards once again. Appa cried in grief as a large wave hit them, both of them fully submerged underwater; bound to drown._

_Both had been knocked unconscious by the force of the wave that had hit them, Aang lost grip of Appa's reins; sinking further and further into the blackened depths._

_Aang's mouth twisted into a frown, his eyes and tattoos beginning to illuminate brightly. He snapped into meditation, freezing the water around them in an air bubble he created, securing Appa and himself inside._

* * *

"Aang! Aang!" A voice yelled out to him. "Wake up!"

Aang jolted upright in a cold sweat, screaming. Pulling the brown cloth off his form as he did so. He looked over at Katara with a frightened face.

"It's okay." She comforted, standing up once again. "We're in the village now. Come on, get ready! Everyone's waiting to meet you."

Aang turned with his back to her with an excited smile, sliding the sleeves of his tunic over his arms before he pulled the collar over his head. Katara gasped silently, noticing the blue arrows all over his body. She smiled, reaching out to grab his wrist and drag him out of the tent much to his protest.

Grabbing his staff on the way out of the open tent door, Katara continued to drag him until he was standing in front of nineteen women and children. Sokka remained sitting by the tent they had just exited from.

"Aang," Katara said, extending her arm out directly to the people who stood before them. "This is the entire village. Entire village, Aang."

Aang clapped his arms together around his staff, bowing to them. Once he opened his eyes once more, he noticed the women eyeing him warily and grabbing their children.

Aang turned to Katara. "Uh, why are they all looking at me like that? Did Appa sneeze on me?"

As he looked at his skin, looking for any signs of the bison's snot, an old woman stepped forward.

"Well, no one has seen an airbender in a hundred years. We thought they were extinct. Until my granddaughter and grandson found you." She said monotonously.

"Extinct?" Aang asked, deadpanned.

"Aang," Katara spoke up once again. "This is my grandmother."

"Call me gran gran." She said once again, her face flat.

Sokka marched over, grabbing Aang's staff from his hands. "What is this, a weapon? You can't stab anything with this!"

Aang whisked it out of Sokka's hand with a gust of air from his fingers. "It's not for stabbing," He explained, looking over his staff. "It's for airbending."

The staff whirred as orange fans flitted outwards, causing Sokka to scream like a little girl in fright.

The children giggled in awe, the tiniest little girl in the village stepping forward in excitement.

"Magic trick! Do it again!"

"Not magic, airbending." Aang explained to the little children, guiding his hands with the glider in an upwards motion. "It lets me control the flow of the air currents around my glider and fly!"

Sokka crossed his arms over his chest, unimpressed. "You know, last time I checked, humans can't fly."

Aang's face quirked as he grabbed either end of the sticks holding the fabric together on his glider. "Check again!"

The crouched and pounced until he was up in the air, soaring through the sky as the villagers watched in awe. He flew down low, between them all, and back up into the air again to impress them. He looked back to Katara, whose face lit up seeing him.

Caught up with trying to impress her, instead of concentrating on flying, his head collided with a large building that had been compacted from snow. Upon pulling himself out, he landed back on the ground in a heap of snow. Everyone running over and gathering around him, minus Sokka.

"Uh! My watchtower!" He gasped, running over to begin repairing it.

Katara, in the meantime, extended her hand out to Aang. He gladly took it and rose himself back onto his feet. "That was amazing!"

Aang twirled his glider for effect quickly, and the fans folded back into his staff. The gust from it causing a large heap of snow to topple onto Sokka that everyone else failed to notice.

"Great," Sokka began, gaining the attention of Katara and Aang as he made to get up. "You're an airbender, Katara's a waterbender, together you can just waste time all day long."

As Sokka trudged away unhappily, Aang turned back to Katara.

"You're a waterbender!"

"Well, sort of." She said, casting her eyes down. "Not yet."

"Alright, no more playing." Gran Gran spoke up, Katara taking her arm. "Come on, Katara. You have chores."

As they walked away together, Katara looked to Gran Gran in excitement.

"I told you, he's the real thing Gran Gran!" She said, coming to a stop. "I finally found a bender to teach me!"

"Katara," Gran Gran said. "Try not to put all of your hopes in this boy."

Katara flung out her arms. "But he's special, I can tell. I sense he's filled with much wisdom."

As they both looked over to Aang again, they noticed the children standing around him as he held the staff in the air with his tongue.

"See? Now my tongue is stuck to my staff." He said delightedly, screaming when one of the children took the staff and pulled it.

Gran Gran's eyes flashed. "He's special, alright."

* * *

Zuko stood defensively at the head of a triangle formation, two of his soldiers facing off against him. His uncle stood nearby, watching Zuko carefully. "Again." He commanded.

Zuko lunged forward, shooting two fireballs from his fists at them. As they blocked him, the soldier on the right shot a fireblast from his fists. Zuko promptly ducked out of the way, turning back just in time to jump over his next attacker that shot his fire from his fist and foot.

While floating in the air momentarily, Zuko took the advantage to shoot a circling fireblast at the first soldier that had attacked him, hoping to put him out of the fight.

The second threw yet another kick of fire in his direction, he twirled himself in the air, the fireblast dispelling.

The soldiers once again returned to their defensive stance, and Zuko stood stationery, looking for his Uncle's input.

"No! Power and firebending come from the breath!" His uncle said, pushing his hands up his chest in demonstration. "Not the muscles."

He extended his arm, his fist clenched. "The breath becomes energy in the body. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire." As he said this, he punched a fireblast that just missed Zuko's face. "Get it right this time."

"Enough." Zuko said, annoyed. Walking towards his uncle. "I've been drilling the sequence all day. Teach me the next set; I'm more than ready."

"No, you are impatient." His uncle countered. "You have yet to master your basics. Drill it again!"

Zuko whirled around, growling in anger, sending a fireball directly at one of the soldiers which made him fly back from the impact. Zuko turned back to his uncle.

"The sages tell us that the Avatar is the last airbender." Zuko said. "He must be over a hundred years old by now." He's had a century to master the four elements. I'll need more than basic firebending to defeat him."

Zuko leaned in threateningly close to his uncle's face, hoping to intimidate him. "You  _will_ teach me the advanced set!"

His uncle stared angrily at him but knew he could not win when Zuko was in one of his moods.

"Very well," He agreed, smiling as he had just remembered something. He sat back down, digging for something beneath his seat. "But first, I must finish my roast duck."

Zuko backed away from him nervously, put off by how quickly his uncle's attitude can change. The old man noisily munched on the slices of roasted duck, happily.

* * *

All of the children stared blankly at Sokka, who marched back and forth, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Now men, it's important that you show no fear when facing a firebender." He explained, unclasping his hands and pulling the machete off of his back and waving it around in front of them. "We are the Water Tribe. We fight until the last man standing. For without courage, how can we call ourselves men?"

He raised his fist high, ending his speech to the desired dramatic affect he was going for.

A young boy, around six years old, raised his hand. "I gotta pee!"

"Listen!" Sokka snapped, annoyed. "Until your fathers' return from the war; they're counting on you to be the men of this Tribe! And that means  _no_ potty breaks!"

"But I really gotta go." The boy crossed his legs, wiggling around where he sat.

"Okay." Sokka sighed, defeated. "Who else has to go?"

When all of the boys raised their hands, getting up from where they sat to rush over to the igloo bathroom, Sokka slapped himself in the face.

"Have you seen Aang?" Katara asked, walking over to her brother. "Gran Gran said that he disappeared over an hour ago!"

"...Wow." Sokka and Katara look over to the noise, finding that Aang had just emerged from the bathroom. " _Everything_ freezes in there!"

Sokka, upon realising that Aang was now distracting the kids from their lesson, snapped and turned to Katara.

"Uh! Katara, get him out of here!" He cried in anger. "This lesson is for warriors  _only!_ "

As he turned to march away, a small "wheeee!" had come from one of the small children.

The young boys were now taking turns to climb onto Appa's back and slide down his tail into a pile of snow, their need for the bathroom obviously forgotten. Katara laughed at the scene, earning her a glare from her brother before he marched over.

"Stop! Stop it right now!" He yelled, grabbing his spear that had been propping Appa's tail upright as the children played before turning on Aang. "What's wrong with you? We don't have time for fun and games with a war going on!"

Aang slid down Appa's front leg, a look of confusion on his face. "What war? What are you talking about?"

"You're kidding, right?" Sokka asked incredulously, watching as Aang's face turned from confusion to excitement.

"PEEEENGUIIIIIN!" Aang yelled, bouncing up into the air in a gust of wind.

Sokka and Katara turned to look at the tiny creature that had peaked his interest. The otter penguin squeaked and turned around, trying to waddle away as fast as possible.

"He's kidding, right?" Sokka asked, looking at Katara.

* * *

Hundreds upon thousands of otter penguins decorated the icy topped hills, falling off of the ledges into the water. All of them squeaked and waddled around, communicating between each other, some even fought with each other over the fish they held in their mouths.

"Aang?" Katara called, looking around for the boy.

"Hey, come on little guy!" A familiar voice laughed. "Wanna go sledging?"

Katara looked over to the noise, laughing as she had just caught Aang diving for one of the penguins resulting in the poor thing sliding away from him on it's stomach.

Aang pulled himself up quickly when he noticed Katara walking over to him. "I have a way with animals." He said, before he waddled after a penguin while trying to imitate it's call.

Katara could only laugh again at the sight. "Aang. I'll help you catch a penguin if you teach me Water bending."

"You've got a deal." He answered, finding himself being dragged across the ground as he held onto the penguin's tail. Upon realisation of the deal he had just quickly made out of excitement over the penguins, he lifted himself up into the air until he landed with his feet onto the ground. "There's just one little problem. I'm an Airbender, not a Waterbender. Isn't there someone in your Tribe that could teach you?"

"No," Katara looked away, her eyes downcast. "You're looking at the only Waterbender in the whole South Pole."

"This isn't right." Aang watched her confusedly. "A Waterbender needs to master water."

He stood in thought for a moment. "What about the North Pole? There's another Water Tribe up there, right? Maybe they have Waterbenders who can teach you."

"Maybe." She said in doubt, folding her arms over her chest. "But we haven't had contact with our sister Tribe in a long time. It's not exactly 'turn right at the second glacier'." She groaned, with a hint of sarcasm in her tone. "It's on the other side of the world!"

"But you forget; I have a flying bison!" He said, a smile returning to his face as he pointed proudly at himself. "Appa and I can personally fly you to the North Pole! Katara, we're going to find you a master!"

Katara gasped. "That's...I mean...I don't know." She replied, unsure. "I've never left home before."

"Well, you can have a think about it." Aang said, pulling his hands up in front of his face. "But in the meantime, can you teach me how to catch one of these penguins?"

Her face lightened up at his innocence. "Okay, listen closely my young pupil. Catching penguins is an ancient and sacred art." She pulled a fish from her pocket and threw it to Aang. "Observe."

Aang caught the fish on the third attempt as it continuously slipped out of his hands, as soon as he had managed to maintain a fair grasp on it, he became swarmed by the penguins around him. He laughed as the penguins toppled over each other to reach him, falling to the ground and becoming lost in the sea of them.

* * *

Aang and Katara, now sitting on the backs of their own penguins, flew over the snow covered hill. Both of them yelling excitedly at the adrenaline rush they were currently having.

They landed with a thud and soared down the hill, racing each other. Aang flew over a spiked icy ledge, flying over Katara and landing in front of her. Katara, upon seeing her next opportunity, flew off another ledge and soared through the air just like Aang had done previously and landed right beside each other.

"I haven't done this since I was a kid!" She yelled, laughing.

Aang looked over at her. "You still are a kid!"

They soon entered a dark tunnel, both of them sliding back and forth against the walls until a circle of light finally approached. Upon reaching the other side, their penguins begun to lose momentum and came to a stop. When Aang and Katara dismounted their rides, the penguins got up and casually waddled away as if nothing had happened.

"Whoa." Aang exclaimed, noticing the huge Fire Navy ship that had been lifted into the air by large shards of ice. The marksmanship obviously not a part of natures doing. "What is that?"

"A Fire Navy ship, and a very bad memory for my people." Katara frowned, she grabbed Aang's in panic as he began to make his way to the ship. "Aang, stop! We're not allowed to go near it. The ship could be booby-trapped!"

"If you want to be a Bender, you have to let go of fear." He concluded, beginning to walk once again towards the shop.

Mustering up her courage in a deep sigh, she followed after him. He helped her to climb up the ice until they reached a hole in the ship, allowing them inside. The peered inside, but the whole corridor was incredibly darkened forcing them to squint their eyes. They continued to walk until they reached the first open room of the ship, noticing that snow had poured in from the hole in the ceiling. The pipes above them were very noticeably rusted and vibrated when the tiny feet of mice scuttled inside of them.

Aang had noticed the weapons that were hung up in racks in the room, different blades, spears and maces lined the wall.

"This ship has haunted my Tribe since Gran Gran was a little girl." Katara answered the question he had not dared to ask. "It was part of the Fire Nation's first attacks."

"Okay, back up." Aang said, looking at her. "I have friends all over the world, even in the Fire Nation, and I've never seen any war."

"Aang," Katara started, watching him as he picked up a spear. "How long were you in that iceberg?"

"I don't know, a few days maybe?"

"I think it was more like a hundred years." Katara's face filled of confusion and shock at this realisation.

"What? That's impossible." Aang yelped, putting down the spear and quirking an eyebrow at her. "Do I look like a 112 year old man to you?"

"Think about it," Katara reasoned. "The war is a century old. You don't know about it because, somehow, you were in there that whole time. That's the only explanation."

Aang's eyes widened in shock and then turned to sadness as he held his head and slumped to the floor. "A hundred years...I can't believe it."

Katara watched him sadly, kneeling beside him and rubbing his back. "I'm sorry, Aang. Maybe, somehow, there's a bright side to all of this."

He looked at her again, a tiny smile on his lips. "I did get to meet you."

She smiled back at him, before offering him a hand up. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Seemingly not done with his exploring, Aang continued further away from the way they came.

"Aang, let's head back. This place is creepy." Katara said, folding her arms across her chest. Watching as Aang had started walking into a new room.

"Huh?" Aang mumbled, his foot catching on a wire, as soon as it was pulled; it forced the bar gates down on them. Now trapped in the room, they both gasped. "What's that you said about booby-traps?"

The ship that had been dormant for almost a century was now fully functional it appears, pipes smoked and dials whirred out of control. Tension was building in the pipes, threatening to gas them. They heard a flare fleeing from the ship, screaming holy murder as it went.

"Uh oh..." Aang gasped, scooping Katara up onto his back as he found the hole in the ceiling were the flare broke through. "Hold on tight!"

Using his Airbending, he jumped up and through the hole, catching Katara by surprise. He put her down as they reached the icicles once again, holding her hand as they jumped down them and ran away from the ship all together.

* * *

Startled by the sound of the flare, Zuko scooped up a telescope and looked through it. His lens focused on the flare up in the sky, as he directed the scope downwards he noticed the deserted fire navy ship it came from, and the boy and girl who had caused it fleeing from the sight.

"The last Airbender, quite agile for his old age." Zuko commented, mostly to himself. He narrowed his eyes as he turned to face the other crew men who stood to attention.

"Wake my uncle. Tell him I found the Avatar." he yelled at them, before turning back to look through the telescope to ensure he didn't lose the two. He watched the direction where they were running, now looking off to the small village of the Water Tribe. "As well as his hiding place."

He narrowed his eyes again, anticipating the capture of the one he had spent years searching for.

* * *

Sakura awoke suddenly, fear shooting through her entire body as she had heard the loud shrieking. Realising that she wasn't in any immediate danger, but her legs still not co-operating with her, she pulled her hand over her chest. Her eyes squinted as she pushed her chakra through the palm of her hand, letting the flow enter her bloodstream in hopes to put her immune system into overdrive to fight off hypothermia and circulate her blood enough to get feeling back into her legs enough to walk.

She noted that it was still going to take a while before she can stand on her two legs again, but this was at least a start.


	3. The Returning Tides

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The rights to both of these shows do not belong to me, but to Masashi Kishimoto, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino.

* * *

 

The sun had already lowered upon the horizon by the time Aang and Katara made it back to the village, they had obviously underestimated the speed of the penguins while having to head back on foot themselves. As they walked into view of the icy walls of the village, they had finally noticed the numerous heads that begun cropping up as they got closer. Katara's heart pounded in her chest as she looked at Sokka and Gran Gran's faces.

"Yay! Aang's back!" A little girl yelled, all of the children running forward to greet them.

Sokka was the one that stepped forward first. "I knew it!" He pointed an accusing finger at Aang. "You signalled the Fire Navy with that flare! You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?"

Katara stepped in front of Aang, blocking him from Sokka in case her brother decided to have a throw-down. "Aang didn't do anything." She explained to them. "It was an accident."

"Yeah, we were on the ship and there was this booby trap and well..." Aang said, scratching his head. "...we 'boobied' right into it."

Gran Gran shook her head in disappointment. "Katara, you shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger!"

Aang spoke up, raising his hands. "Don't blame Katara! I brought her there, it's my fault."

"Aha! The traitor confesses!" Sokka yelled furiously. "Warriors, away from the enemy."

The children looked between each other as they stalked slowly back to their mothers.

"The foreigner is banned from our village!" Sokka ordered.

Katara stepped forward. "Sokka, you're making a mistake." She said, her voice shaky.

"No, Katara!" Sokka hissed. "I'm keeping my promise to dad. I'm protecting you from threats like him!"

"Aang is not our enemy! Don't you see? Aang has brought us something we haven't had in a long time. Fun," She pointed out.

"Fun?" Sokka snorted. "We can't fight Firebenders with fun!"

"You should try it sometime." Aang smiled to himself, remembering something, but unaware that he wasn't really helping the situation.

Sokka's face twisted in fury. "Get out of our village. Now!" Sokka barked.

"Grandmother, please, don't let Sokka do this." Katara pleaded, looking to the elderly woman for a second opinion.

"Katara," Gran Gran started. "You knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right, I think it best if the Airbender leaves."

"Fine, then I'm banished too!" Katara shouted, angered. She turned around, grabbing Aang by the arm and began to walk off to Appa. "Come on, Aang, let's go!"

Aang glanced back and forth between Katara and the village people, and noticed the tears welling up in Katara's eyes.

"Where do you think you're going?" Sokka shouted in a fatherly tone.

Katara refused to look back at him. "To find a Waterbender! Aang is taking me to the North Pole!"

"I am?" Aang looked at her with momentary confusion and then grinned. "Great!"

"Katara! Would you really choose him over your own tribe? Your own family?" Sokka asked, forcing her to pause.

Aang walked in front of her, looking up and into her eyes; seeing her pain.

"Katara," Aang spoke now, catching her attention as he watched her pupils shift from the tears. "I don't want to come between you and your family."

Katara watched as he begun to stalk towards Appa.

"So, you're leaving the South Pole?" Katara asked, casting her gaze down. "This is...goodbye?"

Aang nodded. "Thanks for penguin sledging with me."

"Where will you go?" She asked.

Aang patted Appa's back with a smile. "Guess I'll go back home and look for the Airbenders. Wow, I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. Not looking forward to that."

He spun himself into the air, using his air bending to lift himself up and land carefully on Appa's head. Once his fingers interlaced with the reins, he looked to the villagers.

"It was nice meeting everyone." He said, waving back at them. It was Sokka that stepped forward.

"Let's see your bison fly now, air boy." He mocked.

"Come on, Appa, you can do it! Yip! Yip!" Aang snapped the reins once, but Appa danced around on his heavy feet with a grumble.

"Yeeaah, I thought so." Sokka bellowed.

With a cry, a little girl with short pigtails rushed forward to stand beside Katara. Her eyes glittering with tears. "Aang! Don't go! We'll miss you!"

"I'll miss you too." He said sadly, before turning to Katara to stare at her and their eyes speaking for them. He turned around to face the road ahead of him and snapped the reins once again. "Come on, boy..."

The two girls watched him leave, when he was no longer in sight the little girl walked back over to the group, her boots dragging across the snow. She passed Gran Gran on her way back, turning in time to witness Katara batting the old woman's hand away from her.

"You happy now? There goes my one chance of becoming a waterbender!" Katara snapped, storming away and back into the village to hide from everyone else.

"Alright! Ready our defences! The Fire Nation could be on our shores any moment now!" Sokka turned to all of the little boys as they begun to run inside the walls towards the tents.

One boy stopped in front of him to raise his hand, crossing his legs and dancing. "But I gotta-"

Sokka pointed towards the tents. "And no potty breaks!" He seethed.

* * *

Appa was still extremely tired and recovering even after the few days of rest from being trapped in the ice, and was definitely in no condition to be swimming all the way until he reached the nomad country, so they decided to rest up in an icy cavern about a mile from the village.

Aang sat on the snow, leaning into Appa's soft fur, and played with the hem of his tunic. Appa's throat rumbled before he let out a huff.

"Yeah," Aang agreed sadly. "I liked her too."

From the distance, Aang picked up a chugging noise and looked out to sea. As he got up to get a better look, he noticed another ship like the one he and Katara had found that same day; steaming away on course for the village.

"The village!" Aang gasped, Airbending himself from of the warmth of leaning on Appa's stomach to a distance away from him and began running. "Appa, wait here!"

* * *

Sokka pulled fingerless gloves over his fingers, letting the cuff snap against his wrist. He slipped on brown boots that were knee-high on his feet, before quickly turning his attention to the black and white paints he had beat in the bowl and plate on his table - he dipped his fingers into the black bowl of paint, quickly coating his eyelids in a diamond shape and drew a triangle facing down onto his forehead.

Wiping his fingers very quickly with the cloth he kept on the table, carelessly throwing it aside as he was done with it, he dipped his fingers into the plate of white paint; covering his eyebrows, chin, jawline and cheekbones.

Satisfied, he picked up his boomerang from the table and attached his to his back. He rose, walking over to the exit of his tent and picked up his club on his passing.

* * *

Sokka stood atop the icy walls of the village, looking out into the mist. The villagers, who had seemed to have gotten back into their routines since Aang left, looked up as they heard a rumbling and a crash.

Sokka looked down at his feet where the ice began to crack, the ground underneath them rumbling and shaking. With a crack, the watchtower to his right crumbled and fell in a heap of snow.

"Oh man!" He whined.

Below him, villagers begun to run around in a panic, Katara in the mix, but she had stopped when she noticed something taking form from the mist and hurtle it's way towards Sokka.

The bow of a Fire Navy ship.

As the ship cut it's way through the ice as it advanced towards the wall, Katara took her grandmother by the arm and ran towards the tents at the back of the village. The cries of a little boy filled Katara's ears, as she turned around she noticed that the cracks in the ice were spreading towards the little child. She hurried over, scooped him into her arms and dashed to bring him to his mother.

Katara turned back to look up at the ship, only to see that her brother was still standing up there; poised with his weapon.

"Sokka!" Katara screamed, her voice cracking. "Get out of the way!"

As the ship reached the wall, it began to crumble into snow and collapse - carrying Sokka with it. The ship had finally halted, steam puffing from the bow. The villagers peaked from their tents, staring in fright.

With a loud rattling noise, the gangplank of the ship opened and fell onto the man-made avalanche. Sokka fell backwards with a scream to avoid being crushed by it.

Within seconds of the smoke clearing, Zuko stepped forward. Adorned in red and black armour that only belonged in nightmares. His aura radiated through the village, terrifying the children whose mothers held onto them protectively.

Sokka grunted, getting up and charging forward with a weak war cry. As he ran up the slope towards Zuko, the latter made very little effort out of kicking Sokka's hand to disarm him. With another swift kick, he hicked Sokka upside the head.

Sokka cried as he landed back in the snow, his head fully submerged.

Zuko walked over towards the villagers. "Where are you hiding him?"

He glanced between them all, quickly becoming annoyed when they gave him no immediate response. He grabbed Gran Gran by the hood of her jacket and presented her to the rest of the village.

"He'd be about this age?" Master of all elements?" He asked again.

Upon receiving no feedback once again, Zuko angrily threw Gran Gran towards Katara who caught her and kept her close. He grunted in anger, punching a fist of fire over their heads to threaten them.

To show them what he was capable of.

"I know you're hiding him!" He snapped.

Behind him, Sokka had managed to pry himself out of the snow and picked up his boomerang, charging Zuko with another war cry.

Zuko turned to Sokka in annoyance, managing to dodge his charges once again and swiftly flipped Sokka into the air over his head. Zuko fired a small blast of flames at Sokka, thinking that Sokka was weak enough to not be able to dodge him in time, what took him by surprise was Sokka taking the boomerang from his back and throwing it at Zuko.

Zuko ducked just in time, but barely to miss the shot, and glared at Sokka.

"Show no fear!" A little boy in the crowd threw Sokka his spear, to which Sokka caught and immediately begun charging at Zuko once more; adrenaline filling his veins.

As Sokka neared, Zuko shattered the shaft of the spear with his wrists. Taking the opportunity while Sokka is caught off guard, Zuko grabbed the spear from Sokka's hands and boinked his head several times over with it before he fell over. Zuko bent the rest of the staff against his knee, shattering it and threw the pieces at Sokka's feet.

Zuko stood with a still face looking down at Sokka, victorious. Within the next second, Sokka's boomerang struck the backside of Zuko's head - knocking his helmet off a little. Zuko, now extremely furious with flames spitting out of his fists, towered over Sokka who was now completely defenceless.

Just behind them, Aang rushed into the rescue on another penguin. His tongue hanging out in complete concentration, hoping he got there in time to save Sokka, with his staff in his hands. He surfed right into the back of Zuko's legs, knocking him off of his feet and into the air. His helmet flew off with him, as he dived headfirst into the snow with his behind in the air - his helmet fell onto him, crowning his toosh. [1]

The children cheered Aang on as he reached them, as he and the penguin skidded to a halt - the children were splattered with snow. They had stopped cheering for a moment, surprised at the impact, but began cheering again for their rescuer.

As before, the penguin pushed Aang off and waddled away as if nothing had occurred.

"Hey Katara. Hey Sokka." He smiled, as happy as ever.

"Hi Aang...Thanks for comin'," Sokka said defeatedly.

Aang looked over at the group of Firebenders. Zuko had already gotten up on his feet and shifted into a fighting stance, his scarred face now showing noticeably. Zuko and six other men begun to circle him, he swung his staff on the ground to the left and to the right, the air shifting the snow right at the six men which knocked them back with the force. Aang swung his staff towards Zuko as well, but he had managed to hold his ground and shield his face from the wind.

Aang stood up once more, giving Zuko a coy taunting smile. "Looking for me?"

Zuko stared at Aang, giving him a completely perplexed look. "You're the last Airbender?" Zuko asked, incredulously. " _You're_  the Avatar?"

Katara looked to Aang, more in shock than confusion. "Aang?"

"No way..." Sokka cried in disbelief.

Aang and Zuko began to circle each other, the village becoming like an arena for their fight.

"I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training, meditating. you're just a child!" Zuko scoffed.

Aang snorted at him. "Well, you're just a teenager."

Zuko growled, firing balls of fire from his fist one after another. Aang tried to block each one by twirling his staff like a helicopter blade as he moved around, hoping to throw Zuko off. With Zuko not stopping for even a moment, and Aang not being able to keep up, the flames begun to soar over his staff out of control over the villagers.

Aang looked behind him in shock as the villagers screamed. "Stop!"

He twirled his staff and set it at his side. "If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?"

After a moment, Zuko straightened up and nodded curtly. Two soldiers hurried behind Aang and swept him up onto the ship.

"No, Aang!" Katara begged, rushing forward. "Don't do this!"

"Don't worry, Katara. It'll be okay." Aang assured her, smiling as usual. The soldiers pushing him roughly forward, a grunt forced from his lips. "Take care of Appa for me until I get back."

Zuko turned to one of his men. "Head a course to the Fire Nation. I'm going home,"

As they all walked inside and the gangplank rose back up, Aang continued smiling at Katara to reassure her that he was going to be okay. Within the last second that he went out of sight, however, his smile fell; believing that he was never to see her again.

* * *

Sakura dived her hand into the pouch on her thigh once more as she trudged slowly along in the snow, placing her feet down one after another carefully. She had been awoken by a loud cracking a considerable distance away and had been trying to catch up to it with her frostbitten legs. Chakra reserves depleting steadily with trying to keep her body warm the past few days and with her not making much progress on finding a warm place to camp out to regain her strength, she highly suspected that she was going to die out here.

She'd read once that Uchiha that held the Mangekyo Sharingan, namely Itachi Uchiha, could trap anyone in an illusion of their own design to torture them. The Genjutsu is used to inflict, say, days worth of pain into mere seconds.

'This could just be one of Sasuke's torture methods.' She thought to herself, frowning as she folded her arms across her chest now after finishing the bag of food pills. 'Placing me in a void, a prison, that I can't escape. It's pretty cheap if you ask me, even for him.'

She took deep breaths. 'It's okay, Sakura. If he wanted to kill you, he would have done so already. He's not done playing his game yet.'

* * *

The peaceless night passed since the departure of the Firebenders that took off with Aang, the large gape in the wall now a living memory of the day before. The villagers had somehow managed to return back to their daily lives to start the fire, tighten the strings on the tents while others began to build up Sokka's watchtower.

Katara stood by the water's edge, looking out at the sun rising up and over the sea. Sokka walked back and forth from the canoe to the heap he had lugged from the village.

Katara inhaled and exhaled deeply before she started. "We have to go after that ship, Sokka. Aang saved our Tribe; now we have to save him."

"Katara, I-!"

"Why can't you realise that he's on our side?" She threw her arms up in the air in exasperation. "If we don't help him, no one will. I know you don't like Aang, but we owe him and I-"

"Katara! Are you gonna talk all day," Sokka began, catching her attention finally before he pointed at the canoe. "Or are you comin' with me?"

"Sokka!" She gasped. Her eyes lit up, and she ran towards him; enveloping him in a bear hug.

"Yeah, yeah. Best big brother ever." He said, rolling his eyes. "Now get in, we're going to save your boyfriend."

Katara's eyes flashed in anger. "He's not my-"

"Whatever." Sokka interrupted her, as she had done to him.

"And what do you two think you're doing?" Gran Gran asked, scaring both of them. For an older woman, Gran Gran moved around like a ninja when she wanted to.

They both turned to her, scuttling to hide the canoe behind them. The old woman broke out in a rare smile and held up a blue blanket that held various items inside.

"You'll need these, you have a long journey ahead of you." Sokka and Katara look between each other as she speaks, their eyes lighting up. "It's been so long since I've had hope. But you brought it back to life, my little Waterbender." She cooed, closing in to hug Katara tightly.

"And you, my brave warrior," She turned to Sokka, wrapping her arms around his neck and drawing him in. "Be nice to your sister."

"Yeah..." He sighed and rolled his eyes, then smiled at her. "Okay, Gran."

She let him go and now looked at them both more seriously. "Aang is the Avatar. He's the world's only chance. You both found him for a reason, and now your destinies are intertwined with his."

Katara turned around, looking at the small two-man canoe. "But there's no way that we're ever going to catch a warship with a canoe."

Appa roared to get their attention as he spotted them, like any loyal pet he had walked to the village to find out where Aang was after disappearing on him.

"Appa!" Katara gasped, running towards the bison.

"You just  _love_ taking me out of my comfort zone, don't ya?" Sokka muttered.

* * *

Aang slowly walked behind Zuko and his uncle on deck, his wrists tied together behind his back as two soldiers stood at either side of him. He watched as Zuko twirled the staff between his fingers before grasping it tightly in his calloused hand and coming to a stop. [2]

"This staff will make an excellent gift for my father. I suppose you wouldn't know of fathers', being raised by monks." Zuko directed at Aang coldly, breaking the silence. He shook his head slightly, turning around to give the staff to his uncle. "Take the Avatar to the prison hold, and take this to my quarters."

They all watched as Zuko as he began walking away and out of sight, his uncle turned to the guard on the left.

"Hey, you mind taking this to his quarters for me?" He asked in a soft voice, waiting for the guard to nod before passing it over and walking away.

The two guards guided him down the stairs to below deck into a hallway, beginning to walk along.

"So..." Aang broke the silence. "I guess you've never fought an airbender before. I bet I can take you both with my hands tied behind my back,"

"Silence!" The guard in front of him snapped. He finally stopped in front of a door, forcing Aang and the other guard behind him to come to a stop as well.

As he pulled a key out of his holster, Aang drew in a deep breath before puffing; blowing the guard in front of him against a wall, knocking him out. The gust propelled him into the guard behind him, blowing them back to the stairs. The guard lost his footing, crashing into the steps and knocking him out as well.

Aang airbent himself back up the stairs and onto deck, running towards the door he had seen Zuko enter and kicking a gust of air, forcing the door open.

"The Avatar has escaped!" Aang heard a booming voice call out from behind him, probably from one of the guards he had knocked back.

"Can I not catch a break?" Aang muttered in annoyance as he continued on.

* * *

Appa doggy paddled through the water with Katara sitting on his forehead, taking the reins. Sokka had taken to sitting at the back of the saddle, his hands supporting the rest of his face from falling in boredom.

"Go. Fly. Soar." Sokka groaned, Appa growled back at him in response.

"Please, Appa." Katara said, stroking his head. "We need your help. Aang really needs your help."

"Up. Ascend. Elevate." Sokka continued, earning him a glare from Katara.

"Sokka doesn't believe you can fly," Katara stated, turning back to Appa and hugged his ginormous fluffy head. "But I do, Appa. Come on, don't you wanna save Aang?"

Appa grumbled in response, not making any movement to speed up or any sign that he was going to lift off and fly.

"What was it that kid said? Yee-ha? Hup hup? Wahoo?" Sokka encouraged, thinking. "Uh...yip yip?"

Appa grunted once more, beginning to splash his tail in the water. His massive body now walking on water, with a mighty heave they finally took flight.

"You did it, Sokka!" Katara cried in glee.

"He's flying! He's flying! Katara, he's-!" Sokka screamed, upon he realising his sister giving him a smug look he sat back once again trying to act aloof. "I mean...big deal, he's flying."

* * *

Aang continued down multiple hallways, looking behind him to see if there was anyone following him. As he was doing so, he turned a corner and almost smacked into one of three Fire Nation soldiers that blocked his way with their weapons drawn.

He screamed before sliding to a halt. "You haven't seen my staff around, have you?" He asked, innocently.

His only answer was the three crouching into a fighting stance before any of them had the opportunity to move, Aang ran towards them, using his airbending to run up the wall in a corkscrew pattern to bypass them all.

They all stood deadpanned, only being able to watch in awe at his retreating form.

"Thanks anyway!"

Another hallway he had ran into which was blocked off by a single guard, upon seeing Aang he blasted a fireball from his fist. Aang launched himself in the air, dodging the attack, over the guard's head. His wrist bindings cut easily on the pointed horn of the guard's helmet, the rope ties falling to the floor.

He continued down the hallway, coming across room upon room in order to locate his glider. He opened one, revealing the old uncle laying on his bed snoring away soundly.

"Sorry," Aang whispered, shutting the door quietly behind him before running down the hall again.

Pausing by an open door, Aang looked around for his prize before he spotted it laying against the wall.

"My staff!" He gasped, running into the room and reaching out for it.

Zuko, who was behind the door, swung it shut behind Aang to trap him inside. Aang spun around on the spot and froze at the sight of Zuko approaching him.

"Looks like I underestimated you," Zuko noted, before launching shots of fire from his palms which Aang barely dodged.

As Zuko continued to throw his punches at Aang, like he had when they faced off in the village, Aang rolled underneath him to mimic his movements. Not being able to keep this up for long as Zuko's anger rose, Aang came face to face with his foe once again, managing to escape each fireball now as he formed whirls of air with his hands.

Using his bending to create a large ball which he sat on cross-legged, Aang scootered up and down the walls of the room evading each one of Zuko's attacks until he thought out a plan.

His eyes spotted the red and black tapestry on the walls around the room, particularly the one closest to Zuko. Aang moved quickly over to the tapestry, his face almost becoming sinched at the proximity of him closing in on Zuko. His fingers grasped the tapestry, wrapping Zuko up at least three times before he released his air ball.

Buying him some time, Aang grabbed his staff from where it had been left before Zuko's body burst into flames to release him from his entrapment.

Without much thought, Aang airbent the mattress at the other side of the room towards Zuko, slamming him into the wall. He fell onto the mattress, dazed. For good measure, Aang airbent the mattress up, forcing Zuko to slam against the ceiling.

Upon reaching the floor once again, collecting himself, Zuko seethed as he noticed that Aang had already fled from the room.

* * *

Aang continued to run up the hallway, using his airbending to spin the mechanism that opened the hatch for the control room. He jumped up, passing the confused sailor at the ship's wheel. As he made it back on deck, he opened his glider and threw it in the air. As he jumped and grasped the wooden fan, a smile swamped his face when he realised just how easy getting away was.

Zuko who had followed closely behind him, grabbed a hold of his leg and pulled him back forcefully. Crashing back on the deck again, Aang stood up quickly as they both moved into a fighting stance.

A loud roar from above distracted them both, both of them looking up.

"What is that?" Zuko wondered in awe.

"Appa!" Aang cried out, turning just in time to use his staff to block a blast from Zuko.

* * *

'I heard something!' Sakura gasped, spinning around on her feet. She looked up in the air, but she saw nothing. 'I'm not going crazy, I know what I heard and it's close!'

**Aang! NO!**

**Aang! Aang! AANG!**

Sakura was so sure now that she wasn't going crazy. But then again, it may be due to the fact that she hadn't spoken to anyone in days.

She frowned. 'Naruto, please end this soon. I can't take this anymore.'

* * *

Aang drifted underwater, his mouth agape. Katara's morphed screams filtering into his ears. Upon her third scream, his eyes snapped open and his tattoos begun to glow the empty blue like before. He moves his arms slowly, building up a current around his body, propelling up until he broke the surface and a mighty whirlpool edging him up and over the massive ship.

Zuko now looked up at Aang in both dismay and fear, the boy drifting swiftly onto the ship to bend water around him until it formed a complete circle around his body until Zuko could see him no longer. Aang's head twisted to look directly at Zuko before he sprung forward, releasing the ring into a whip towards Zuko and his men who hurtled overboard.

"Did you see what he just did?" Katara yelled in excitement.

"Now  _that_ was some Waterbending!" Sokka agreed, astounded.

Aang finally fell to his knees, the light from his tattoos and eyes diming out as he almost passed out from using up so much energy. Appa quickly flew over and landed on deck, Katara and Sokka jumping off to tend to Aang.

"Aang!" Katara cried, helping him up. "Are you okay?"

"Hey, Katara. Hey, Sokka. Thanks for coming." Aang yawned, covering his mouth with his hand.

"Well, I couldn't let you have all the glory," Sokka said, grinning.

"I dropped my staff." Aang noted.

"Got it!"

As Sokka ran over to pick up Aang staff that had almost fallen into the water, Zuko had managed to climb his way back onto the ship and clutched the staff. Sokka shrieked, pushing the staff towards Zuko's head and hitting him three times before he released the grip and fell back into the water.

"Ha!" Sokka cried, swinging his arm in the air and pointing to the water below where Zuko fell. "That's from the Water Tribe!"

Katara had helped Aang up and they walked towards Appa, who had already lay down so that Aang didn't have to climb up his feet to get on top of him. Katara turned to find some of the guards that had fallen into the water make their way back on deck, preparing for combat again.

Katara moved her hands and picked up a stream of water that had dripped off of Aang, the soldiers backing away in fear. She threw her arms around to whip the soldiers just like Aang had, but instead of moving towards the soldiers; the water flew backwards freezing the deck and Sokka's feet.

"Katara!" Sokka whined, already beginning to hack away at the ice trapping his feet with his boomerang.

The soldiers began to advance once again, forcing her to move her hands like she had before. A water stream floated in the air in front of her, she swung her arms forward, this time completely freezing them in ice.

She ran for Appa, jumping on top of his head and took the reins. "Hurry up, Sokka!"

"I'm just a guy with a boomerang," He complained, still hacking away at the ice around his feet. "I didn't ask for all this flying and magic."

Upon freeing himself, he ran up Appa's tail, jumping into the saddle on his back. "Yip, yip! Yip, yip!" He cried.

Appa began to run and took off into the sky with a loud roar. Zuko's uncle had just emerged from his room and wandered on deck, stretching while he yawned. He looked up, seeing Appa fly overhead, and his nephew nowhere in sight.

He looked around deck, finally noticing a hand clutching the floor boards for stability. He ran over to help to see that his nephew was about to fall into the water once again, so he grabbed his arm and pulled him up.

"Shoot them down!" Zuko shouted as soon as he got his footing back on deck.

He and his uncle moved swiftly in unison to create a massive fireball and aimed it directly at Appa, Katara and Sokka looking back at them in horror.

Aang jumped to the back of the saddle with his staff in hand, swinging his staff to create a gust of wind that blew the fireball away from their party into the side of the icy cliff next to the ship.

The fire-ball exploded, causing an avalanche which fell into the narrow canal and onto the ship, blocking their course back home.

Team Avatar laughed as they flew away on Appa, paying no attention to the body that fell from the cliff side and tumbled onto the ship.

* * *

**Shoot them down!**

Within moments, a blast of fire swirled towards her hitting the cliff below. The rocky mountain crumbled at her feet, the snow at her back catching her off guard. She screamed as she tumbled on her way down, the snow considerably breaking her fall as she landed on the deck of the ship that came into existence.

"Good news for the Fire Lord," A hard voice spoke first, filtering into her ears. "The nation's greatest threat is just a little kid."

Sakura turned her head towards the noise, her eyes trying to adjust.

"That  _kid_ , Uncle, just did this," She watched as the skinny one, who sounded younger, gesturing in her direction. "I won't underestimate him again."

The boy stood up. "Dig this ship out and follow them!" He ordered, turning around in a different direction. "As soon as you're done with that."

The older man had begun to walk closer, presumably to retreat back into the heart of the ship, until he stopped in front of her. Her eyes cast on his feet.

"Prince Zuko." The man called. "You might want to come and see this."

"What is it, Uncle? I have no time for this!" Zuko stormed over, stopping in his tracks when he eventually noticed what his uncle had seen. "A girl?"

* * *

Time had seemed to stand still as Zuko looked her over. The girl lay sprawled at his feet, her form facing them. Her hair fell like a curtain over her face, like pink blossom petals falling in Spring. Even with frostbite flaking on her pale skin, she looked mythical.

Her emerald eyes fixated on him. The black thick lines from the centre of her forehead which crossed her eyes and ran like tears down her cheeks eased their way back up her face, all he could do was watch this phenomenon in awe and had his heart racing.

She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

* * *

Uncle stepped forward and took a small mirror from his pocket, kneeling down and held it close to Sakura's nose and mouth. He seemed relieved that the glass begun to steam up.

"She's alive, but barely." He said, ushering for one of the soldiers to step forward. "Could you prepare this girl a bed, and make sure to bring out the good blankets?"

The soldier nodded and ran off inside, forcing Zuko to snap back into reality.

"But Uncle! What if she is one of the Avatar's friends?" Zuko complained angrily. "I will not have her on my ship."

His Uncle turned to him. "Prince Zuko, I remember the young boy that cared for anyone. I know these last few years have been harsh on you, but I wish you'd find the young boy somewhere in your heart again just this once."

Zuko sighed. "Fine, do as you wish."

"...And carry her to her room?"

"What do you think of me? A peasant?" Zuko barked. "Get one of the guards to do it."

Zuko looked around, realising that the soldiers were still prying each other from the ice and the only guard that had broken free had already run off to prepare a room for her.

He sighed, defeated. He walked over to her and carefully placed his left arm under her legs and his right arm resting on her back. He hoisted her up with no problem and began to carry her across the deck and through the doorway towards the rooms.

"...Another complaint from you about helping this girl, Prince Zuko, I will suggest that you help give her a sponge bath in bed." His Uncle teased, appearing close behind him, a grin on his face.

Zuko's breath hitched at the back of his throat at his uncle's words, a traitorous blush rising to his cheeks.

* * *

Her eyes fluttered open once again as she felt the new found warmth against Zuko's chest. He was rather tall, skinny yet muscular as he did not quiver with carrying her in his arms. His skin, a light olive colour.

As he settled his golden eyes on her green ones, she couldn't help but think about how handsome he was - even with the horrible scar adorning his left eye.

* * *

The sun began to set over the horizon once again as they flew above the clouds on Appa's back, the air around them slowly lulling them to sleep.

"How did you do that?" Katara finally piped up. "With the water? It was the most amazing thing I've ever seen,"

She sat on her knees in the saddle and looking up at Aang in wonder, who had taken Appa over from her a while ago, as he looked away from them.

"I don't know. I just sort of...did it." He sighed.

"Why didn't you tell us you were the Avatar?" She asked, completely over her excitement now that she knows that Aang won't be able to teach her the Waterbending move.

"Because..." Aang started, looking at her and then looking away in shame. "I never wanted to be."

"But Aang," She reasoned. "The world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and finally put an end to this war."

He turned to her again, feeling a wave of pressure wash over him. "And how am I going to do that?"

"According to the legend, you need to first master Water, then Earth, then Fire right?" She asked.

"That's what the monks told me."

She smiled. "Well, if we go to the North Pole, you can learn Waterbending."

He suddenly cheered up at that. "We can learn it together."

"And Sokka," She said, turning to her older brother. "I'm sure you'll get to knock some Firebender heads along the way."

"I'd like that." Sokka said dreamily. "I'd really like that."

"Then we're in this together." Katara smiled at Aang.

Aang produced a scroll from under the seat in the saddle. "All right, but before I learn Waterbending," He said, airbending his way down to their level. "We have some serious business to attend to."

He opened the scroll to reveal a full map of the world. "Here, here and here." Pointing to two spots in yellow and one in white.

"What's there?" Katara asked.

He pointed to the first place on the map again. "Here, we'll ride the hopping llamas. Then waaaaay over here," He then points to the last place on the map. "We'll surg on the backs of giant Koi fish." He moves his finger again to the second place he pointed to. "Then back over here, we'll ride the Hog-Monkeys'. They don't like people ridin' em, but that's what makes it fun!"


End file.
